Author: Elan

Kenyan founders are increasingly looking beyond traditional venture capital avenues to secure funding in a tight macroeconomic climate. This outward push is clearly visible in the latest application numbers for the Latitude59 startup competition. The flagship Estonian tech event has recorded a massive spike in interest from the continent, with Kenya leading the charge.Out of 465 global applications from 53 countries, 70 African startups applied for the 2026 pitch competition. This is more than double the number of African applicants from last year. Kenya specifically stood out as the dominant force. Forty Kenyan startups submitted applications to pitch, up from…

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In brief Pennsylvania is suing Character.AI, alleging that the chatbot posed as a licensed psychiatrist using an invalid license number. The state says the chatbot presented fake medical credentials. The case adds to legal scrutiny of the platform, which already faces mounting lawsuits. Pennsylvania has filed a lawsuit against generative AI developer Character.AI, alleging the company allowed chatbots to present themselves as licensed medical professionals and provide misleading information to users.The action, announced Tuesday by Governor Josh Shapiro’s office, follows an investigation that found a chatbot claimed to be a licensed psychiatrist in Pennsylvania and provided an invalid license number.…

Leading tech media organisation, Technext, has announced the maiden edition of its much-anticipated fintech event, Spotlight by Technext. Set to hold on May 14, the event will feature conversations around the theme: Bridging Trust, Liquidity and User Reality. Spotlight by Technext brings together 150 leaders in the Nigerian financial technology and insurtech industry into an exclusive space. Here, they would have honest and uncensored conversations about trust and the realities their users face. The rules are simple: Honesty over performance. There are no panels, no fireside chats, no regulated conversations, no pre-arranged questions. Just 150 leaders confronting uncomfortable truths, giving…

TL;DR Amazon has rolled out a redesign for its Photos app. The update introduces a curated carousel of memories at the top of the screen, brings “On This Day” to the carousel, and makes it easier to find photos with natural language. The update is out of iOS and will come to Android at a later date. Google Photos is a great app, but it’s not the only photo gallery available on mobile. There are plenty of alternatives, like Simple Gallery, Fossify Gallery, and Amazon Photos. Speaking of Amazon Photos, the online retail giant just gave its app a big…

** For the best experience, download the free Africa Private Equity News app Android | iOS **Acumen has invested in Pullus Africa Solutions Limited, a Nigerian agribusiness working to create more reliable markets for smallholder poultry farmers. The investment will support Pullus in expanding its aggregation and cold-chain infrastructure, enabling farmers to sell chickens year-round at stable prices.Across Nigeria, many smallholder farmers depend on informal middlemen who offer extremely low prices for chickens and frequently delay payments. Without reliable buyers, farmers often restrict production to festive seasons such as Ramadan and Christmas to avoid selling under pressure. The result is…

The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Tunji Disu, has directed all police officers across the country to ensure they wear name tags on their uniforms for easy identification. He noted that only officers engaged in undercover operations are exempted from the directive. Speaking on Tuesday, Tunji Disu said, “All police officers should have their name tags. All of us on the high table have our names apart from the undercover among us so if you look at all the Commissioners of Police we have our name tags, so it’s not our standard. “All the Commissioners of Police are here and…

Hadija Jabiri The following article is a slightly edited excerpt from our new book, How we made it in Africa II: Real stories of entrepreneurs turning opportunity into profit. The publication was recently launched at Harvard Business School. The ebook and paperback versions are available here. When Tanzanian agribusiness entrepreneur Hadija Jabiri launched her enterprise, she adopted a strict market-first approach. Instead of planting crops and hoping to find buyers later, she wanted to ensure she had a guaranteed market before starting production. As she notes, “The mindset was always: get the order before you plant.” Her specific goal was…

The government has taken a decisive step toward securing its second compact under the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), launching the Concept Notes Development Process in what officials describe as a critical phase in addressing the country’s deepening energy challenges and broader economic constraints. The initiative, unveiled at the Bella Casa Hotel in Monrovia over the weekend, marks the formal start of technical work that will shape priority projects–most notably in the electricity sector, long regarded as one of the country’s most binding development bottlenecks. “This is not just about funding–it is about discipline, partnership, and results,” said Minister of State…

Make CryptoSlate preferred on Tagging @grok in an X post plus a few dots and dashes was all that was needed last night for a bad actor to pickpocket a verified crypto wallet without ever touching the private keys.Agentic token launchpad, Bankrbot reported on May 4 that it had sent 3 billion DRB on Base to the recipient 0xe8e47…a686b.The funds came from a wallet assigned to X’s AI, Grok, and were sent to an unauthorized wallet owned by a bad actor. This Base transaction shows the on-chain transfer path behind the post.CryptoSlate’s review of X posts around the incident points…